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Spirit Hunter: NG

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The urban legends are real, and they have followed you home.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Switch
Stores: Steam
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (90% of 297 reviews); 4.57 of 5 on the PlayStation Store (366 ratings); Metacritic 73 for the Switch version (4 critics)
Length: about 15 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard and mouse or controller (partial controller support on Steam).
Made by: EXPERIENCE and Ghostlight (published by Aksys Games)
Released: 2018

On PlayStation: one of the PlayStation horror games.

No. 28 of the folklore horror games · No. 25 of the Japanese horror games · No. 25 of the office horror games · No. 8 of the urban legend horror games

Get it on Steam Nintendo eShop (Switch)PlayStation Store (PS4)

What frightens A spirit named Kakuya forces a young delinquent into a deadly game across a Tokyo suburb at night, where urban legends come true: monstrous women in parks and offices, victims shown dead in explicit detail, and timed choices where one wrong answer ends your run.
Content: gore, violence, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language.

Spirit Hunter: NG is a Japanese horror visual novel and companion story to Spirit Hunter: Death Mark. A young delinquent forced into a deadly game by a spirit hunts the urban legends of a Tokyo suburb at night, searching by flashlight for clues and making choices that decide whether his partners live.

About Spirit Hunter: NG

Spirit Hunter: NG is the second Spirit Hunter game from EXPERIENCE, a companion story to Spirit Hunter: Death Mark. It came out on PlayStation Vita in Japan in 2018 and reached Windows, PlayStation 4, Switch and Vita worldwide on 10 October 2019, published by Aksys Games. It stands on its own; you do not need the first game.

You play Akira Kijima, a 17-year-old delinquent in the suburb of Kissouji. A spirit called Kakuya has taken a girl from his family and challenges him to a game: confront the monsters of the neighbourhood's urban legends, one per chapter, and she will be returned. He works each case with a different partner, some of them shady, while the police are as much a danger as the spirits.

Most of it is reading over painted art, and the rest is investigating. You shine a flashlight over each scene to find clues and items, touch bloodstains to see visions of the people they came from, and react to what partners say through a judging wheel that builds your bond with them. Crisis choices are timed runs of decisions where a wrong one ends in death or arrest. Each chapter closes with a confrontation where you use what you found to purify the spirit or destroy it; destroying it passes its curse onto your partner and kills them, and those choices lead to good, normal or bad endings. Optional text-message side quests send you looking for hidden cards that tell extra legends.

What frightens is the legends themselves and what they leave behind: monster art that one reviewer calls very creative and very gruesome, and victims shown in explicit, intense scenes. There are no jump scares; the dread is in the night streets, the sound of footsteps on concrete and buzzing streetlights, and the knowledge that a wrong answer costs a life. It suits readers of Japanese ghost stories who can take graphic, adult horror.

How to play Spirit Hunter: NG

Buy it on Steam, Switch or PlayStation and start a new game; Death Mark is not needed first.
Read the story and learn each chapter's urban legend as it unfolds.
Search each scene with your flashlight for clues and items, and touch bloodstains for visions.
React to your partners with the judging wheel to build your bond with them.
Pick fast in timed crisis choices; a wrong choice ends the scene and sends you back.
Face the spirit with the items and notes you gathered, and choose to purify or destroy it.

Screenshots

Spirit Hunter: NG art: a man with a briefcase watches a pale long-haired woman pushing a pram by a misty pond at night

Spirit Hunter: NG art: an office worker at his computer late at night while a bloodied creature with a sword and a hanging head stands behind him

Spirit Hunter: NG art: a bloodied young man lying on the floor beside his dropped flashlight

Spirit Hunter: NG screenshot: the judging wheel of Akira's faces shown while a woman in a bar says she will leave Ami to him

Spirit Hunter: NG screenshot: a girl in a black dress and bow on a night street by the station as Akira answers her

Tips

You can only save at certain points, so save whenever the game lets you before a long confrontation.
Read item descriptions and your journal before a confrontation; they tell you what to use on the spirit.
Purifying a spirit frees your partner, while destroying it kills them, so think before you strike.
Look for the hidden cards the text messages point to; they hold some of the best extra legends.

Questions

Do I need to play Spirit Hunter: Death Mark first?

No. NG is a companion story set in the same series and stands on its own.

How long is Spirit Hunter: NG?

One review puts a playthrough at about fifteen hours, using a guide for the confrontations; seven chapters, each built around an urban legend, plus optional side quests.

Does it have jump scares?

No. Its horror is in the graphic monster art, the explicit scenes of victims and the tension of timed choices.

Is it gory?

Yes. It is rated M by the ESRB for blood and gore, partial nudity, strong language and violence, and the Steam page also warns of sexual themes.